Sunday, September 30, 2007

Birthday Blog

Birthday BlogWell, another damn birthday is sneaking up on me. And there is so much to celebrate, isn’t there? I still have my knees, and most of my teeth, and THE WAR on PBS has a few more nights to go. The War in Iraq, unfortunately, has miles to go before it sleeps.

That Darn IranianLee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, gave a ten minute introduction lambasting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before he’s even said anything. Among other things, he said, “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.” He also threw in: “You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.”

According to the New York Times, “Mr. Bollinger praised himself and Columbia for showing they believed in freedom of speech by inviting the Iranian president, then continued his attack. He said it was ‘well documented’ that Iran was a state sponsor of terrorism, accused Iran of fighting a proxy war against the United States in Iraq and questioned why Iran has refused ‘to adhere to the international standards’ of disclosure for its nuclear program. ‘I doubt,’ Mr. Bollinger concluded, ‘that you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions.’”

When it came Ahmadinejad’s turn to speak, he said, “In Iran, tradition requires when you invite a person to be a speaker, we actually respect our students enough to allow them to make their own judgment, and don’t think it’s necessary before the speech is even given to come in with a series of complaints to provide vaccination to the students and faculty.”

Later, the event’s moderator, Dean John H. Coatsworth, asked him, “Do you or your government seek the destruction of the state of Israel?”

Ahmadinajad responded, “We love all people. We are friends of the Jews. There are many Jews living peacefully in Iran.”

Mr. Coatsworth didn’t let it go: “I think you can answer that question with a simple yes or no.”

New York Times: “Mr. Ahmadinejad was having none of it. ‘You ask the question and then you want the answer the way you want to hear it,’ he shot back. “

That’s about right. Not to hold the golf bag for the dude or anything, but where is it written that just because somebody asks a question, you have to answer it? Don’t answer that.

Moneypenny RIPLois Maxwell has died. She was 80. I had such a crush on her!

And don’t go near the water…AP: “A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.”

Germany plagued by runaway rogue kangaroos?Reuters: “Police in southern Germany said they had found ‘Skippi’ -- a kangaroo that had been reported missing from a petting zoo in Bad Wurzach. The 'roo had been hit by a car near Krumbach and killed…. But Skippi's owner insisted it couldn't have been Skippi, and refused to come to identify the body. … Several days later the owner was proved right: a very-much-alive Skippi was captured near Ravensburg and returned to the zoo.“

Betray us.Conservatives were upset that moveon.org made a stupid pun on General Petraeus’ name as “Betray us.” Don’t they have anything important to rail against? Just asking.

My favorite moment in the Petraeus/Crocker hearings was when Senator McCain asked Ryan Crocker about his confidence in the Iraqu government; Crocker responded: "My level of confidence is under control."

And that’s a good thing. We can’t have confidence levels running around loose, like German kangaroos.

Story of the month.From metro.co.uk:“A would-be shoplifter squirted her breast milk at a store detective when he tried to stop her stealing goods.The woman exposed her breasts and fired away after being confronted at a Co-op store. The attack in Leicester is thought to be the latest in a trend in which thieves try to get their DNA on security officers so they can accuse them of sexual attacks if caught. Graham Collins, of security company Citywatch, said: ‘It started off with people picking their noses until they bleed and then accusing staff of assault.’”

Is this just a problem in Leicester, or do we have leaky thieves over here as well? Are they part of the growing kangaroo smuggling ring?